‘Bob’s Big Idea’: Harvard Professor Robert Kegan (Bob) has been arguing that we are living longer for a reason – to give us time to evolve a different order of consciousness (5th stage, or inter-individual in his model) to deal with the problems created by the prior 3rd (socialised) and 4th(self-authoring) levels of consciousness.

In Spiritualise we argue that facing up to the inexorable nature of death is part of being more fully alive. But we rarely manage to achieve this, partly because of our cultural fixation with youth. “Hold on to the phase of life that keeps death at arms length”, we seem to say. But that’s a futile, unhealthy battle. In a society with good public mental health we would all feel that the best age to be is the age you currently are, but that would mean viewing the ageing process in a positive way that didn’t seem like a consoling fantasy.

We should all try to live such that the best age to be is the age you currently are.

Let’s start with the phases: In most OECD countries in the early 21st century, ‘childhood’ is thought to last around 18 years. Pre-birth and infancy are important parts of that, and ‘adolescence’ complicates matters, arguably a distinct state extending from young teenage years up to around 25. ‘Adulthood’ goes up to about 45, when we talk of ‘middle age’, and then around 65, at least until recently, we begin to talk of ‘old’ age, but that feels increasingly obtuse, mostly because so many people view this phase of life much more positively, and it’s hardly a minority interest.

Here’s the thing: “Of all the human beings throughout human history who have ever lived to 65 or more, two thirds of them are alive today.” – Robert Kegan (Speaking at the RSA c11 mins in video above)

Last night’s climate comedy featured an exacting gig for professional comedians at the RSA, but they all took the task very seriously (one aspect of comic expertise, I noticed, is skill in the art of pretending not to prepare).

Individually, and together, they delivered a wonderfully diverse take on the climate challenge. It was a great fit for the project, because it echoed the core point about the need for a diversity of perspectives and approaches to the challenge. I am grateful to all the comedians for their hugely creative contribution; in fact I feel I learnt something about the creative process by watching what they did with the issue. I’m especially grateful to Pippa Evans for rallying her colleagues and hosting the event with such elan (even if she did call me ‘little beardy Rowson‘ on stage). Read more

I’m terribly sorry I haven’t been in touch since October. Let me assure you, I received your recent letters and graphs with all due consideration and affection. It’s just that I have been so terribly busy these past months, what with getting Spiritualise out the door, and then Christmas and what not. But you have been in my thoughts almost every day, and I am so very glad to now have the chance to reestablish contact.

I was in Paris last weekend – a very pleasant thing to do. I’ve always had a soft spot for Paris; there is something about it that I never tire of. So it’s good to be there for the weekend. But this particular weekend was special. Last week a number of Parisians were killed for what they do and the way they do it. And Je suis Charlie now echoes along the boulevards and alleyways and streets and squares of Paris … France … the world.

You can of course skim and dip, but if you want the full picture and the whole thing seems daunting, there is a 4000 word summary in the form of speech transcript here, and the video recording of the actual speech is here (4.30-23.20).

And if that’s still asking too much, I can only really offer bait in the hope of luring you in. So here are some of my favourite quotations from the report. I’ve given the page numbers so you can pursue them in context:

1. “We all see our lives, and/or the space wherein we live our lives, as having a certain moral/spiritual shape. Somewhere, in some activity, or condition, lies a fullness, a richness; that is, in that place (activity or condition), life is fuller, richer, deeper, more worthwhile, more admirable, more what it should be. This is perhaps a place of power: we often experience this as deeply moving or inspiring.”

4. “Many atheists now consider ‘spiritual’ thoroughly poisoned by its association with medieval superstition (but) we must reclaim good words and put them to good use – and this is what I intend to do with ‘spiritual.’…There seems to be no other term (apart from the even more problematic ‘mystical’ or the more restrictive ‘contemplative’) with which to discuss the deliberate efforts some people make to overcome their feeling of separateness.”

11. (Religion should not be seen as inherently divisive, but could also be seen and experienced as) “a secure base from which to explore, not a fence beyond which lies infidels.” – Elizabeth Oldfield (at first RSA workshop)

15. “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anaemic…It is precisely this collision of immoral power with powerless morality which constitutes the major crisis of our time.”

- Martin Luther King, Sourced from Kahane, A. (2010). Power and love: A theory and practice of social
change. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

16. “…There’s no cheating death here; the meditator learns to stare down the vertiginous fact of her own mortality, unflinchingly and intentionally. And it’s in so doing that religious principles move from propositional beliefs into experiential reality…” – Joanna Cook (speaking at the RSA)

17. “I face up to death but then I flip back into denial. Surely that’s what it’s like? I lie in bed in the small hours of the morning, absolutely terrified by the apprehension of my own dissolution…And then I go to sleep and wake up in the morning and make toast.”
- Will Self (speaking at the RSA)

20. “We have had two centuries of a civilisation of unparalleled material progress, abundance and development based on extrinsic values (self-interest, materialism, economic growth, keeping up, social mobility); intrinsic ‘beyond-self’ and religious values have periodically been reasserted but they have lost their institutional hold and centrality to the stories that make sense of our lives. The extrinsic values celebrated by industrial society are now under real pressure in the West as scarcities begin to return and confidence in the future wanes, for good reasons of ecological disruption, social fragmentation and economic dysfunction and inequality.”

“The fact that the RSA – known for its work on policy issues like city growth, self-employment and public service reform – undertook this project is a sign of the growing importance being attached to spirituality as a source of motivation, meaning and creativity. Spirituality is coming into the mainstream. It could powerfully affect the way we approach major 21st century possibilities and challenges”

Matthew is right, and by no means alone in thinking that the world’s existing and emerging challenges are so complex, contested, interrelated, urgent and exacting that technocratic and technological solutions are unlikely to be sufficient, and may sometimes even compound matters. While instrumental and utilitarian thinking will always have its place, we need to re-engage with fundamental questions to deepen and broaden our perspective, and sharpen our sense of priorities - What are we? What really matters? How should we live?

Well, it’s that time of year again. So in case you missed any of it the first time around, here’s your chance to have a look at what we’ve been up to. Take a quick dip now, or don a woolly jumper and cosy up with a cup of coffee, and enjoy some of the exciting work that the Social Brain Centre has done this year.

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Dr Jonathan Rowson leads the Social Brain project. Jonathan holds a first class degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from Oxford University, an Ed.M from Harvard University in Mind, Brain and Education, and an ESRC funded PhD from Bristol University. His Doctoral thesis includes a detailed analysis of the challenge of overcoming the psycho-social constraints that prevent people becoming 'wiser', similar to what the RSA terms the 'social aspiration gap'. A chess Grandmaster, Jonathan was British Champion for three consecutive years 2004-6. Follow @Jonathan_Rowson

After 7 years working in the private sector in the UK and Germany, Nathalie Spencer read Dan Ariely's 'Predictably Irrational' and took a rational decision to change the course of her career. She is a behavioural economist with degrees (Cum Laude) from McGill and Maastricht universities. Her Masters thesis explored the effect of time and emotions on social cooperation, and her special interests are decision making, cognitive biases, and the psychological barriers to behaviour change.